Understanding Gender Violence : A Comprehensive Approach

Despite 50 years of activism, legal changes, and crisis service provision, there is no evidence to suggest any widespread decrease in rates of gender violence in the United States. People still experience gender violence at alarming rates, are often not believed, and encounter countless obstacles in navigating medical, criminal justice, media, and other institutional responses to their disclosures.

The urgency of addressing the dynamics and causes of situations like these, as well as our failure to catalyze widespread decrease in rates of gender violence, fresh ideas for thinking about gender violence differently. Black Lives Matter, indigenous rights, LGBTIQA rights, and other social justice movements have made it clear how marginalized bodies and identities need to take central stage in gender violence response and prevention efforts. As a movement, we need to do better. But how?

This book responds to this question by reframing how we think about the problem of gender violence so that we can address it more collaboratively and effectively. Using a paradigm-shifting comprehensive approach, Freitag offers a new perspective on defining gender violence, considering its impact, and explaining why it occurs. Instead of focusing only on (men’s) violence against women, this text offers a comprehensive definition of gender violence that focuses on gendered dynamics across a wide continuum of behaviors ranging from language and microaggressions to physical violence and murder. The author identifies and digs into the root causes that all forms of gender violence share to facilitate a big picture understanding of how cycles of gender violence continue. She shares personal anecdotes and includes examples of the lived realities of gender violence and its aftermath. She proposes applications of a comprehensive approach for every area of gender violence response and calls for ways to make our work reflexive, collaborative, and sustainable.